@Azalea: Actually that is not so. “Terminal velocity” refers to the maximum possible falling speed you can achive. Studies show that the survival rates for cats falling out of buildings decrease as the buildings gets taller, but at about 8 stories they flat-line – since that is the height it takes for cats to reach their terminal velocity. (They do still frequently die, but as mentioned above this is usually due to their jaw hitting the pavement and shattering)

How fast a creature can fall before reaching terminal velocity is species-specific, since it is basically a function of mass vs aerodynamic drag. Mice, for instance, has such a low terminal velocity that they can wistand a fall from any height 100% of the time. For humans it is about 122mph/195kph if the arms are a spread out (angel position) – and about 200mph/320kph if the limbs are pulled close to the body.

Not true… I saw a mouse that fell from only about 4.5 meters high place… it was going like it was drunk and it was a bit funny and I thought – hey, that mouse went out of that garage drunk. I was mistaken. The mouse suffered from shock and I think – internal bleeding. Because when I went to have a look just a minute later, the mouse was STIFF. It was horrible. It wasn’t a soft, recently deceased mouse, like when a cat kills it, this one has solidified in death. Do they call it rigor mortis?

As with any fall- survival rate is greatly increased by series of small colisions, dissipation of the kinetic energy into spins and cushioning effect of the final impact surface.

A man has fallen out of a balcony on the 10th floor, and only broke a tooth. He landed into some low bushes, which had the cushioning effect.